Best 7 Tips to keep Web Servers Secure

The security of your web server is of utmost importance to assure that your business does not experience data loss due to malicious attacks and hacking. Once hackers find their way into your system, they have free reign to abuse your data as they see fit or redirect your traffic to malicious sites that cause irreparable damage to your reputation and website. Web hosts are responsible for various elements of server management, including server security. Below we list seven ways you can make your server safer and more secure from any malicious attack directed its way.

Here are some of the best web server security tips for you to follow.

1. Monitor logs

Security is based a lot on logs. There is a lot of information assembled and assessed by the server, namely about the people connected to it and its function. The assessment highlights various patterns that can be used to find out if your security is under attack or the places it is vulnerable. There are a number of tools available at your disposal that can help you analyze your logs, and form a succinct report regarding the activity in your server. Some even provide hourly reports that you can use to stay proactive about your security.

2. Check all of your web systems

Most of the apparent ones are easy to check, but you also need to check the systems that are comparable not in the forefront. You need to keep a tight tab on things such as cameras that are plugged into the network, copiers, etc. Because web servers are a part of almost all network systems. You can spot your network’s web servers by submitting your network segments to a straightforward port scan that will help you locate the usual ports on your web server.

3. Get rid of unneeded services

If you have installed configurations as well as systems by default, they are highly unsafe. Several unnecessary network services are installed during default installation that proves to be of no use to your web server. These could include RAS or server printing service, among others. Your system becomes more vulnerable to hackers and malicious attacks, the more services you add to your OS, which creates additional open ports to be exploited. Get rid of all services that remain unused so that they do not automatically start running in the background when you are using your server. The added benefit of it is that you free up extra hardware space, which in turn will help accelerate the performance of your server.

4. Get your developers up to date

Developers have to focus on the technological aspects of the operation, which sometimes make them blind to the vulnerabilities of their applications, the people who use them, as well as the malicious software and hackers lying dormant waiting to exploit their every vulnerability. However, the world within their lab and outside looks quite different. So it is important that they acquaint themselves with the real-life threats that are around when it comes to security. 

Knowing the malicious attacks possible would help them design security measures to keep their web applications safe and secure by limiting vulnerabilities. There should be a guide to all the security measures developers must adhere to. Taking stock of the quality of your software regularly would help ensure that the developers are implementing these security measures.

5. Allow specific permissions and privileges

File and network service permissions are some of the most important elements of network security. In case your network service software has been used to infiltrate your web server, you can still carry out tasks through the bad actor using the network service run account. You can limit the vulnerabilities of your system by allowing only specific users to access specific information by limiting the permissions you provide. It will help keep malicious attacks at bay.

6. Remote access

Server admins should make the effort to locally login to their web servers, even though it might be difficult to always do that in this day and age. You must ensure the security of your remote connection if remote access is necessary. You should also limit the number of IPs that you allow remote access to. Public networks or laptops used to remotely log into corporate servers provide a wide-open door for malicious attacks and hackers to walk through. 

7. Access SSH through a public authentication key

Get rid of access that is unencrypted. Do not manage servers by using HTTP, FTP, or Telnet. The preferred safe ones include HTTPS, SFTP, and SSH. To amp up your security further, do not access SSH through the use of password authentication. SSH keys are a much-preferred option. Each user has a private and public key allocated to them. The server holds the public key, while the user retains the private key. SSH ensures that the keys match every time a user tries to log in.

Conclusion

Web server security should be at the top of your priority list. There are several ways you can keep your web servers secure. Keeping up with the new ways of server security is extremely important as it gives you an idea of new ways your system could be vulnerable. The security measures listed above can help keep your server exceedingly safe if implemented regularly.